News

News

For feature stories & behind the scenes updates on our work, please see the Katalyst Blog.

March 2017: Lovely to be nominated for a Sandford St Martins Award in the TV Category! Fingers crossed for the ceremony in June!

March 21 2017: How Police Missed the Grindr Killer is due to air in the UK on BBC One at 22:45.

February 16 2017: The definitive story of “How the Police Missed the Grindr Killer” is published on BBC3 and BBC iPlayer. The film documents the harrowing tale of how Barking & Dagenham police missed a serial killer in their midst, as told through the eyes of the victim’s friends and families.

November 2016: It was great fun to attend the Annual Sikh Awards to see Ravi Singh win the Charity Award for his work around the world, but most importantly supporting the Yazidi community in Iraq. Go Ravi!

November 2016: It was a great honour to be on the Jury of the 2017 International Emmy Awards for News & Documentaries which were awarded in New York City.

November 2016: Chuffed to have judged the Documentary category at the 2016 Amnesty Media Awards – there were some incredibly compelling entries & all the finalists were films highlighting women’s rights issues in India, Saudi Arabia & Afghanistan. Congrats to “India’s Daughter” for winning the Documentary award!

November 24 2016: The short documentary for BBC3 the “Grindr Killer” is published online following the conviction and sentencing of Stephen Port at the Old Bailey. This short film told the story of one courageous man, John Pape, who repeatedly tried to raise the alarm with the local Barking & Dagenham police about a spate of suspicious deaths of young gay men in Barking, London.

November 19 2016: “The Selfless Sikh: Faith on the Frontline,” airs in over 196 countries on BBC World News over the weekend.

November 13 2016: “The Selfless Sikh: Faith on the Frontline,” filmed & directed by Sharron Ward in Iraq, aired on BBC One, to excellent overnight ratings of 1.5 million viewers. The film was well received and resonated with an audience, helping to reveal the plight of the Yazidi who are effectively the victims of a genocide perpetrated by the world’s most brutal terror group, ISIS.

October 2016 – January 2017: Sharron Ward produced two gripping BBC3 documentaries investigating how Barking & Dagenham Police in London failed to properly investigate a series of gay deaths in Barking, London and allowed a serial killer to continue killing in their midst. With unprecedented access to the friends and families of the victims, the films unpicked the catalogue of failings that allowed Stephen Port to continue offending for over a year.

September 2016: Sharron Ward travelled to Kurdistan in Northern Iraq to film the inspiring humanitarian Ravi Singh and his charity Khalsa Aid, to document how he provides aid to over 4oo Yazidi women and families who were held captive by ISIS. Many women and girls were held in sexual slavery and we documented some truly horrifying atrocities for this BBC One documentary.

July 2016: Huge thanks to the folks at NewsShooter for writing about Sharron Ward’s documentary work in their “In the Frame” series.

May 2016: We were delighted to have 2 of our UNFPA-commissioned films, “Broken Dreams; Healing Hopes” & “Far from Fear,” which highlight the issues Syrian refugee women face, such as gender based violence and maternal health, selected to screen at the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen – the world’s largest global conference on the health, rights, and well-being of girls and women.

May 2016: Sharron Ward is honoured to be a Judge in the Documentary category for the Amnesty Media Awards coming up this year. Looking forward to watching some compelling entries!

May 2016: Wonderful to be back for a flying visit in Lesvos to see the amazing Kempson family and to document the actor Hugo Speer delivering much needed supplies to the Hope Centre which was fund-raised for by Metro Readers. You can still donate to the campaign here.

May 2016: Sharron Ward was super honoured to have been on the Jury of the 2016 International Emmy®Awards competition to be held in New York this November. There were some incredibly compelling documentary and current affairs entries. Stay tuned in October for the announcement of nominees.

April 2016: The Katalyst Team were back at the UN in Geneva to film the ongoing Stop Killer Robots campaign lobbying Ambassadors & diplomats at the CCW – the Convention on Conventional Weapons on LAWS (lethal autonomous weapon systems) aka Killer Robots!

February 2016: Huge thanks again to the Cinema for Peace Foundation for putting on such a lavish Gala Ball & Awards in Berlin, which served as a fund-raiser for the European Refugee Crisis. It was great to attend & cheer on fellow filmmaker Sean McAllister as he won the refugee award for his amazing feature doc “A Syrian Love Story.” A fantastic film that reminds us all why Syrians are fleeing to Europe in the first place.

January 2016: Thrilled to have taken part in a panel discussing the refugee crisis at the Frontline Club & to screen “Lesbos SOS” to raise funds for Armando Aid – a great organisation that is “helping the helpers” of the refugee crisis in Greece. An amazing £10,000 was raised from the auction on the night thanks to the very generous donations of some incredible photojournalists, such as John D. McHugh & Pulitzer Prize winner Yannis Behrakis.

Belated thanks to Stylist magazine for this profile on filmmaker Sharron Ward – highlighting feminists on the frontline. Honoured to be in the company of some kick ass women!

October 2015: Sharron Ward travels to France to film more stories on the refugee crisis – the biggest migration of people to hit Europe since World War II. It was fantastic to meet and film Joe Murphy & Joe Robertson who founded the Good Chance Theatre & the refugees they worked with in the “Jungle” in Calais.

Good Chance Theatre, Calais Jungle

September 2015: Channel 4 news commissions a short documentary on the Lesbos refugee crisis Lesbos SOS profiling the humanitarian response of one ex-pat British family single-handedly helping thousands of refugees who’ve arrived on their shores. Filmed, produced & directed by Sharron Ward, the film has had a phenomenal response on social media (over 1 million hits for the cutdown version on Channel 4 News’ Facebook page) and has resulted in thousands of pounds of donations & volunteers sent to help the refugee crisis there. Watch the Youtube version.

September 2015: Channel 4 news airs short documentary Syria: Hidden War on Women a powerful film told through the eyes of the women themselves of their experience of forced, child marriage and domestic violence amongst Syrian refugee women in Jordan and Lebanon. Filmed, directed and produced by Sharron Ward. Watch the Youtube version.

August – September 2015: Sharron Ward travels to the island of Lesbos, Greece to film a short documentary highlighting the humanitarian frontline of the refugee crisis.

August 2015: Unicef MENA awards Katalyst Productions a long term service contract to provide video and photography services to Unicef throughout the Middle East.

May – June 2015: Super pleased to be commissioned by UNFPA to undertake a reporting mission to Lebanon and Jordan on reproductive health and pregnancy of Syrian refugee women, as well as documenting the strength and resilience of lone Syrian refugee women forced to flee Syria. Two films were commissioned – directed, filmed & edited by Sharron Ward. The first film called “Far from Fear” documents the stories of Mona, Sara and Samar – 3 incredible Syrian women who all overcame their own personal suffering – whether fleeing domestic abuse, grieving for their husband killed in Assad’s prisons or struggling to feed and house their children in a foreign country. The second film called “Broken Dreams; Healing Hopes” documents the pressures Syrian refugee women face in marrying too early, the difficulties in accessing reproductive health care as a refugee, and in a rare case, the difficulties Syrian refugee men face in owning up to domestic violence and pressure as a refugee. The film also documents the incredible work of the UNFPA maternity unit in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Sharron Ward was also commissioned to photograph Syrian refugee women and men for the UNFPA State of Population Report 2015.

Mona, Syrian refugee woman living in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon

April 2015: We’re back at the UN in Geneva to film the ongoing work of the awesome Stop Killer Robot’s campaign who attended the Convention on Conventional Weapons to address and lobby diplomats, scientists, and Government’s on the need to enforce a pre-emptive ban on lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) aka Killer Robots.

January 2015: The short film “Israel vs Israel” for AJ+ is published on social media. During the Gaza War in the Summer of 2014, Sharron Ward went to Israel/Palestine to direct, produce and film a short documentary for AJ+/Al Jazeera America on the opposition inside Israel against the war, the seige and the occupation. The film has so far had over 870,000 views on Facebook alone.

September 2014: Very pleased to announce we won an Emmy in the International News Category in New York! The Emmy was awarded to the Channel 4 News’ “Syria’s Descent” series in which our film featured, exposing the plight of Syrian refugee girls sexually abused & exploited in Zaatari refuge camp.

August 2014: We’ve been very busy filming a new short doc in the Middle East! Stay tuned for more soon.

July 2014: Sharron Ward has been busy in bonnie wee Scotland filming for Mandrake Films & Channel 4 News following the youth campaigners of the Yes and No camps for the upcoming Independence Referendum. It was clear that both sides of the debate are passionate about the future of Scotland and firmly believe that their arguments are the right and most common sense ones! Whatever the outcome of the Referendum on September 19th, Scotland will have the biggest change to it’s Constitution in over 300 years. Och aye! You can see the film here.

June 2014: Sharron Ward managed to secure an exclusive interview for Channel 4 News, with Sanya-Jeet Thandi, the former Chairperson of the London branch of Young Indpendence, UKIP’s youth wing who dramatically quit the party claiming “racist populism.” We filmed with Sanya also on the streets of Gravesend in Kent, to discover exactly who is voting for UKIP and found that their main concern, was you guessed it – immigration.

February 2014: We’ve been filming in Sheffield for Mandrake Films showcasing Chella Quint – the winner of the The Mandrake Films/The Open University Specialist Factual New Talent Pitch, as she took us on a journey examining the history of disposable feminine hygiene product advertising. Ahem. It was certainly a different subject matter than what we’re used to! You can see the film on the OU page here.

February 2014: Sharron Ward has been filming more for the Human Right’s Watch Stop Killer Robots campaign. You can see all of the films and learn more about the campaign here. Always grateful for the support of HRW & the Arms control division.

September 2013: Just finished filming a short doc for Mandrake Films & Channel 4 News following the youth wing of UKIP’s Young Independence to find out who they are and why these young and up and coming politicos chose to join & campaign for UKIP. You can watch the film here.

Addicted in Afghanistan is to screen at The Frontline Club, September 13, 2012, followed by a Q&A by director Jawed Taiman and producer Sharron Ward.

One of our latest films was just broadcast on the Community Channel for The Media Trust’sUntold Stories Strand which we made for the women’s mental health charity Kim Inspire. Produced, Directed & Edited by Sharron Ward, Filmed by Ewan Mulligan and Online Edited by Nigel Taylor. Transmitted on the Community Channel June 2012. HD Canon 7D, Dur. 5 mins. Much thanks to the folk at Kim & the wonderful women who shared their personal stories in the film. To see the film – you can view here.

Our long awaited 1 hour documentary – Cannes in a Van – is now available to buy and download online!! Thanks to the amazing social networking tools of Distrify – you can buy the film to view via streaming or download here.

On 29 October 2011, we filmed the “Eyes on Syria” Amnesty International demonstration against the Syrian Regime at the Syrian Embassy in London. You can view the stills & videos on Demotix.

On the 20 November 2010, we filmed the “Time to Go: Afghanistan” march & rally that was organised by the Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the British Muslim Initiative.

On 23 October 2010, we filmed the Iraq War Logs press conference given by Julian Assange of Wikileaks. Billed as the “biggest leak in US military history,” the leaked Pentagon files revealed records of more than 100,000 fatalities in the Iraq War. For sales of footage of this conference and more Wikileaks material please see Journeyman Pictures.

For a full round up of news prior to 2010 and screenings of Addicted in Afghanistan – see the Katalyst blog.